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March 19, 2010

For Tigresses in a Jams March CAN-JAM the directive was alliums. Wandering through the Santa Monica farmers market I had a vague idea of a ramp and fennel pickle, but sadly there where no ramps to be found. But with spring in full swing the market was bursting with irresistible produce, asparagus, fennel, strawberries and rhubarb all beckoned me. Impulsively, and without a plan, I grabbed whatever struck my fancy and came home with rhubarb, fennel, spring onions, tarragon and blood oranges. Voila, Rhubarb Fennel Chutney.

chutney |ˈ ch ətnē|

noun ( pl. -neys)

a spicy condiment made of fruits or vegetables with vinegar, spices, and sugar, originating in India.

What defines chutney I wondered? Concerned that technically this recipe was not a chutney as it lacked raisins, I poked around on line searching for a definitive definition. I found no concrete answer and somehow, as is oft with the Internet, I knew both more, and less. Raisins I learned are not essential. In India the term chutney covers a panoply of condiments: sweet, spicy, fresh, cooked, and herbal, every cook and region has their own. Chutney is to India as salsa is to Mexico, and then some. To me it is defined by sweet and sour characteristics which pungent rhubarb lends itself perfectly too. I have added to that onions, tarragon, Pernod and fennel, typically French flavors that result in hybrid, which I am happy to call chutney.

YIELD:

3-4 PINTS

INGREDIENTS

2 cups white wine vinegar

11/2 cups brown sugar

11/2 cups white sugar

2 lbs rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch slices

2 cups chopped fennel

2 cups chopped onion

3 tablespoons fresh ginger minced

zest and juice of 1 large orange

(blood orange if available)

4 sprigs fresh tarragon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cups Pernod

METHOD

Prepare canner, jars and lids.

In a large pot heat vinegar and sugar over low heat until sugar dissolves. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 35-45 minutes stirring occasionally until the mixture thickens.

Fill jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace . Seal and place jars in canner covering with more hot water to submerge the jars. Bring to a boil and processhot water bath for 10 minutes for 1/2 pints and 20 minutes for pints. Remove canner lid and wait 5 minutes before carefully removing jars. Place jars on towels or a cutting board and let cool undisturbed for 24 hours.

March 3, 2010

What's the expression, make lemonade out of lemons? Well I say make Rosemary Lemon Vodka out of lemons.

My fine friends at Food Forward blessed me with a ton of lemons after our last canning class. They arrived at my house armed three huge cases of delicate and fragrant meyer lemons which we promptly transformed into 36 quarts of preserved lemons. I have been power canning all week trying to finish the case before the mold set in. I preserved them, curded them, marmaladed them and just when I thought I couldn't can another thing I realized I had a case of vodka in the garage. Lemon Vodka sounded just right and even better it didn't require firing up the stove.

I recommend experimenting, try two kinds, or invent one to suit your own tastes and then have a tasting with lots of mixers so everyone can make their own cocktail. I would like to try a grapefruit rosemary combo.
Please post your results in the comments section and let me know how it came out.NOTES:

Purists will probably shoot me, but I did not sterilize the jars. I washed them in HOT water and figured the vodka would kill anything in there. I used Ball 1/2 gallon jars.

I highly recommend filtering through coffee filters; this is sure to remove any solids and give you a clearer product.

You can easily substitute another lemon variety.

Feel free to leave out the rosemary or perhaps try another herb.

This recipe has two tablespoons of sugar. I find that this small amount doesn't quite sweeten the vodka, but it does somehow round out the flavor. You could omit the sugar or you could increase it if you like a sweeter product.

MEYER LEMON VODKA

INGREDIENTS:

2 MEYER LEMONS

2 TABLESPOONS SUGAR

1 LARGE OR 2 SMALL SPRIGS ROSEMARY

8 CUPS GOOD QUALITY VODKA

METHOD:

With a paring knife or a vegetable peeler carefully,remove the peel from the lemons. Try to remove only the yellow zest, avoiding as much of the white pith as possible. Save the lemon for another use.

February 22, 2010

Stumped by Tigress is a Jams carrot directive for her February Can Jam I poured over dozens of cookbooks, searching for that special recipe with which to impress my lofty canning pals. Carrots are not after all my favorite vegetable to can, or even eat for that matter. I tend like them best raw, shortly after they have been plucked from the earth garnished only with a dusting of fresh dirt.

After much procrastination I decided on Vietnams Do Chua, keeping with my recurring Asian pickle theme. Often scattered on bahn mi, Vietnams answer to the hoagie, carrot daikon pickles are a simple and delicious counterpoint to the sandwiches rich ingredients, pate, roast pork and yes, mayo. Don’t forget, Vietnam was long occupied by the French (hence the pate and mayo). Do Chua adds a complex flavor and crunch to almost anything. Serve alongside rich meats or in a Vietnamese lettuce taco, I like grilled shrimp or pork, with piles of fresh mint and cilantro. And of course tuck them into some crazy PO BOY of your own design.

NOTES:

Use a mandoline if you have one, do not grate.

Buy large carrots, they are easier to work with.

If you plan on using the pickles quickly, you can skip the hot water bath and make these as a refrigerator pickle. Let them sit up in the fridge for week before using. They should stay fresh for a month.

Daikon, once pickled can smell a bit cabagey, but it is not reflected in the taste.

Adapted from the Ball Book of Canning

YIELD: 6 PINTS

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs. carrots peeled and julienned lengthwise in long strips

2 lbs daikon peeled and julienned lengthwise in long strips

3 cups white wine vinegar

3 cups water

1 ½ cups sugar

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

6 chili pepper (optional)

METHOD:

Start your hot water bath and prepare your jars and lids.

Wash peel and julienne carrots and daikon into long strips.

In large pan combine water, vinegar, sugar and ginger bring to a boil over medium heat to dissolve sugar. Add julienned daikon and carrots and immediately turn heat off.

Place a chili pepper in each jar (if using). Using tongs pack julienned vegetables into hot jars. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jars, pushing down on veggies with the back of a sterilized spoon leaving ½ inch of headroom. Remove air bubbles and adjust head-space adding more liquid if needed. Wipe rims and place lids on screwing on lightly.

Place jars in canner covering with more hot water to submerge the jars. Bring to a boil and process for 20 minutes (timed from the boil). Remove lid and wait 5 minutes before carefully removing jars. Place jars on towels or a cutting board. Let cool undisturbed for 24 hours.

February 14, 2010

Originally I had planned on making this for Tigress in a Jams January Can-Jam but was unable to get my hands on any kumquats. But it seems that the fruit Gods are now complying and kumquats are everywhere, just in time for Chinese New Year. Ranch 99, the fabulous Asian supermarket on Sepulveda, has some and even better, my friend Marysa let me raid her tree (after feeding me a delicious dinner that her husband Chris had cooked).

Prized for their beautiful color, which represents gold, their leaves, which represent money,and their shape, which signifies unity and perfection, kumquat trees are often given as gifts during Chinese New Year. Frankly, after last year any signs of prosperity are welcome in my home.

At first I thought this might be a fussy Victorian style preserve that doesn't translate to our modern palate, but let me tell you these babies are addicting! You taste the delicious citrus syrup before you bite into the fruit, which explodes in your mouth with a combination of flavors and textures, both buttery and puckery, unlike anything else you have ever had. They are yummy and will both surprise you and inspire your cooking with their multiple uses. They are equally welcome in both sweet and savory preparations and sublime when combined with dark chocolate.

Kumquats have a short growing season so grab them when you see them and get canning. This is a pantry ingredient from that can elevate your cooking from the ordinary to the special. However much you make you will wish you had made more!

Kung hay fat choi! (wishing you prosperity!).

YIELD: 2 PINTS

NOTES:

Spoon over pound cake or dark chocolate torte.

Use in salad dressings

Mix into to yoghurt or spoon on top of panna cotta (pictured).

Slice into salads or serve with roasted meats.

Make sophisticated cocktails using the fruit as a garnish and a bit of the syrup for flavor.

Honey tends to foam a bit more than sugar, don't be bothered by it just skim it off

You can substitute sugar for the honey if you like.

Feel free to omit the ginger or replace it with vanilla bean.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs kumquats

11/2 cups honey

11/2-cup sugar

4 cups water

2-inch knob of ginger

METHOD:

1.Wash the kumquats and remove any remaining stems. With a paring make a small incision in each end of the fruit.

2.Peel ginger and slice into 8-10 coins.

3.Put honey, sugar, water and ginger into a preserving pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Add kumquats and cook over low heat until fruit is tender and almost translucent, about and hour. Skim as needed.

4.Cool fruit and refrigerate over night. Start you canner boiling. Return fruit and syrup to boil over medium heat and simmer for 10 minutes skimming as needed.

5.Ladle fruit into canning jars dividing ginger evenly. Cover the kumquats with the syrup leaving 1/2-inch headroom. Remove any air bubbles. Wipe rims and place lids on screwing on lightly.

6.Place jars in canner covering with more hot water to submerge the jars. Bring to a boil and process for 20 minutes (timed from the boil). Remove lid and wait 5 minutes before carefully removing jars. Place jars on towels or a cutting board. Let cool undisturbed for 24 hours.

January 31, 2010

My oldfriend Kami has been asking me for a pickled beets recipe for months .Inspired by some golden beets at the farmers market and the mound of tangerines in my kitchen this recipe is a welcome ray of sunshine in the winter.

The earthiness of the beets combined with tangerines and the slightly floral pink peppercorns results in a mildly sweet and tangy pickle. I used the David Chang/Momofuku technique reducing the sugar a bit to compensate for the beets sweetness.

Serve these along side rich meats, added to salad or on a sandwich or burger. Chopped finely they make a great addition to a remoulade or tuna salad.

If you have extra brine pour it over another vegetable, such as onion or carrots, whatever you have on hand, and pop it in the fridge to serve with the beets.

NOTES:

These are refrigerator pickles and therefore require no hot water bath or cooking.

This is a technique that invites experimentation, try different vegetables and spices using what you have on hand.

Pink peppercorns grow on tree's in California and are available at gourmet markets , but can easily be replaced by regular peppercorns or omitted altogether.

I used golden beets for this recipe, but any beet will work.

Peel the beets before trimming them, it's easier with with the greens attached .

Golden beets are orange on the outside and yellow on the inside.

INGREDIENTS:

3 bunches beets (about 9 medium beets) peeled and trimmed

zest of 1 orange or two tangerines

1 teaspoon pink peppercorns

4 cups water

1 1/2 cups rice vinegar

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup kosher salt

METHOD

Peel beets, then cut into very thin slices (less than 1/8 inch) with slicer and transfer to a nonreactive heatproof bowl with zest and peppercorns.

Meanwhile, bring water, vinegar, sugar, and salt to a boil in a large nonreactive saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved.

Remove from heat and pour hot brine over beets.

Cool to room temperature, stirring and pressing vegetables down occasionally (or keep them submerged with a small plate).

Transfer beets with pickling liquid to a separate airtight container and chill, covered, shaking occasionally, for at least 1 week. Serve using a slotted spoon.

I have been experimenting with this this technique which works wonderfully with thin skinned citrus. Do not bother making this with thick skinned fruit. You won't be happy with the results unless you trim away all the pith, and if you are going to all that bother you may as well make traditional marmalade.

The beauty of this recipe is its simplicity and speed. As I said in the Tangerine post "this is not as complex or refined as a traditional marmalade, but is fantastic nonetheless, and a great addition to every jammers repertoire. Some might call it cheaters marmalade, but given the work/outcome ratio it’s a winner."

It is divinely easy, ZIP-ZAP-ZING

ZIP it in the the food processor, ZAP it in the nuke,and ZING it in the canner, (ok the last one doesn't really make sense, but it sounds good).

YEILD: 1 PINT

NOTES

Use only thin skinned citrus.

Do not double the recipe, the microwave will not like it and you will end up with a giant mess.

Use a high-sided microwaveable container as the jam bubbles up. I like to use my 2-quart glass mixer bowl, which I can pour directly into the jars from.

After you get the basic technique down feel free to play a bit adding a alcohol or spices.

This is a great way to use up those bits of dried up vanilla bean in your cupboard, but if you you don't have vanilla this still stands on it's own.

My sincere apologies to those of you denied access to meyer lemons.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb meyer lemons (about 4 lemons)

1 3/4 cup sugar

3 inches vanilla bean

METHOD:

Start your hot water bath and prepare your jars and lids.

Cut of blossom end of lemons and slice lengthwise into quarters.

Using a paring knife slice away the thin white membrane on the edge of the flesh. This will allow you to easily remove the seeds.

Place cut lemon and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Puree, making sure that all the peel and section skins are reduced to a pulp. It will be quite liquid.

Pour into a high-sided microwaveable bowl adding vanilla bean cut into a few pieces. Cover tightly with saran wrap that you have pierced a few times to vent.

Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Stir; remove saran wrap and return to microwave for5- 7 minutes. Remove, stir and check thickness. At this point, depending on the juiciness of your fruit you may want to return it to the microwave for another 2-3 minutes. It continues thickening as it cools.

Stir again and pour or ladle marmalade into your prepared jars, leaving 1/2-inch headroom and removing any air bubbles. Wipe rims and place lids on screwing on lightly.

Place jars in canner making sure they are submerged. Return to a boil and process 5 minutes (timed from the boil) for 4oz jars and 10 minutes for 8oz jars. Remove lid and wait 5 minutes before carefully removing jars. Place jars on towels or a cutting board to cool. Label,date and enjoy.

January 13, 2010

There wasn't a lot to be thrilled about in 2009, frankly I could have have skipped the year altogether. I'm not quite sure how that would have worked, an extended hibernation, time travel or perhaps a year in Tibet. They all sound good.

In a year filled with disappointments my Blackberry Hooch was an unmitigated success, something to sing about (especially if you have had a few snorts) .

Perhaps not my most ambitious or most successful canning foray (were one to rate these things), nor the trickiest, using new techniques, gadgets and ingredients, but certainly one of most the most gratifying. Overzealous harvesting one day at the U-PICK FARM left my kitchen counters littered with crates of blackberries ready to spoil in the summer heat. Desperate to not waste, I dumped the near-fermentation berries into my big half gallon BALL jars and covered them with booze. My intention was to make Blackberry Vodka but I quickly ran out (those jars are BIG!) and moved onto the gin remaining in the liquor cabinet. Come December I pulled them out of the garden shed to bottle as holiday gifts. WOW, they were fantastic! Smoother than the vodka, the gin was the clear winner even among sworn gin-o-phobes. Perhaps it was the long gestation period or maybe just a happy accident. Sometimes the finest cooking moments are born from mistakes. Maybe that's the lesson of 2009, alchemy, baby ,alchemy.I was going to do a top ten list but felt felt it was a bit vainglorious so instead I have listed three of my favorite posts and recipes from 2009.

January 5, 2010

My new years resolution is to post more often. I know I have been a slacker these past months with my infrequent posts. I vow to return to the kitchen soon, armed with the dozens of empty jars awaiting me in my garage.

I just returned from New York where I ate some fantastic food, the most exciting at chef David Chang's Momofuku dynasty. I ate at both Ssan Bar and Noodle House in the East Village and even managed to squeeze in a stop at Milk Bar for the ice cream which my daughter and I fought over despite the sub-zero weather. The cereal milk soft serve ice cream truly is off the hook and worthy of all the praise heaped on it. The chocolate chip, marshmallow, cornflake cookies were insane and I don't even like cookies. Just the right balance of crispy, chewy, salty and sweet without being the least bit cloying.

Pictured above are the pickles from Noodle House, on the menu as a starter. Served in a mason jar, I'll take them any day over a bread basket. Let's start a new movement, pickles instead of bread. Who wants to fill up on dough before a good meal? Pickles pique the appetite without dulling it.

Fresh, crisp and crunchy the Momofuku pickles are delish, the flavor of each vegetable distinct. The waitress told me each vegetable is brined individually and then combined for serving.

Using rice vinegar as opposed to cider or wine vinegar, produces a delicate brine that doesn't overwhelm and allows each vegetable to sing. Asian pickles are my new obsession, they are light, sweet, and tangy, perfect for the new year.

NOTES:

These are refrigerator pickles and therefore require no hot water bath or cooking.

Each vegetable except the beets has a different spice to accompany it.

This is a technique that invites experimentation, try different vegetables and spices using what you have on hand.

I found the vegetables needed varying amounts of time to set up, depending on their size and density.

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About Me

I am not a professional cook; I am simply preoccupied with food. My last food obsession was with duck fat,for health reasons I have moved on.
I come from a long line of yankee women; my grandmother, mother, sisters and I, we all put up.
In the real world I am a fashion stylist, hence my obsession with jars and labels.
Canning is couture.
I live in Los Angeles with my dog, my daughter and lots of fruit.
nina@putsup.com